


Sick Day

by apple_pi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Comfort, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-12
Updated: 2010-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-07 05:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple_pi/pseuds/apple_pi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He couldn't get up the energy to actually pay attention to the movie playing on his laptop, but he also couldn't bother turning it off; instead he lay, half-sitting up, covers pulled up to his chin, and stared at the screen with dull, heavy-lidded inattention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Day

He couldn't get up the energy to actually pay attention to the movie playing on his laptop (something silly about faking a murder or murders, John thought), but he also couldn't bother turning it off; instead he lay, half-sitting up, covers pulled up to his chin, and stared at the screen with dull, heavy-lidded inattention.

He'd just decided to slide over onto his side (he could prop one end of the laptop on a pillow, so the angle was still okay for not-watching) when the door chimed quietly. "C'min," he said, and his voice sounded so weird and stuffed up that he made a face. When Rodney came through the door, therefore, John's eyes were squinched up and he was making a sound somewhere between a foghorn and an old man, trying to rid his head of a few metric tons of mucus and wheezing a little. "Oh," he said, wiping his nose and tossing the crumpled tissue into the pile on the far side of the bed, "hey, Rodney."

Rodney was staring in mute horror, tablet clutched to his chest. "What was _that?_" he asked, edging in far enough that the door closed, though it was nearly on his heels.

John gave him a mean look. "Like you've never had a sinus infection," he said, and huddled lower under the blanket. "Come in or get out, but if it's work-related, the Wraith better be invading." He felt bad the instant he said it, and reached out to tap his knuckles on the bedside table. "Not really."

Rodney rolled his eyes, but if he thought John didn't see his discreet little rap on the doorsill, he was crazy. "I was just coming to see if you needed anything. And I brought you some more pills - Keller said these might help, if the other decongestant hasn't worked yet." Rodney stomped across the room and slapped a blister pack down on the night table.

"I can't take anything for a little while," John said, blinking up at Rodney. (Someone screamed loudly on the DVD, and John reached out and hit the spacebar absently, pausing it.) "Thanks, though. Whatever she gave me before hasn't done anything so far."

"You look like crap," Rodney said.

"Thanks," John drawled, and winced at how nasal it sounded.

"So," Rodney said, shifting from one foot to the other, "do you? Need anything, I mean."

"Keep me company," John said, abandoning self-respect.

Rodney stood still, looking thoughtfully down at him. "Hm."

"I'll turn off the movie," John offered, and closed the laptop, pushing it away. He'd finally gotten a bigger bed (he'd gotten tired of his feet hanging off the end of the other one) and he scooted to one side, patting the mattress. "You can sit and work here."

Rodney looked around, as though considering escape, then sighed and came closer, finally sitting on the edge of the mattress. "I'm not doing this for you," he informed John, setting the tablet down and bending to untie his boots. "But Radek's trying to get me to approve some truly ridiculous requisitions for the next _Daedalus_ run, and I can hide out from him in here."

"Mm-hm," John said. He grabbed hastily for a tissue and sneezed three times in quick succession; it left his head aching, eyes dry and sticky. "Bleah," he said.

Rodney scowled at him. "That's disgusting," he said. John nodded blearily and tossed the tissue away, slumping carefully down onto the bed, waiting. Rodney got off his shoes and socks, then swung his legs up and sat back against the wall, propped up beside John's curled-up body. "Here," Rodney said, placing the Kleenex box on John's shoulder. "If you sneeze on me, I _will_ amputate your head."

John moved the tissue to somewhere above his head, on the pillow, and tried to shove his face into Rodney's side, curling up further. "Promises, promises," he mumbled. Rodney was so warm.

"Stop that," Rodney said absently, shoving him away, hand on his face.

"I'll blow my nose on you if you do that again," John said, and snuggled closer. "Do I feel feverish to you?" His body twanged like he was, and he shivered a little, tucking one hand under Rodney's thigh.

Rodney laid his palm on John's forehead, then turned his hand over and lay the backs of his fingers along John's upturned cheek. John closed his eyes, instinctual as the sigh that gusted out. "No," Rodney said, and John sighed again.

"I feel achy," John said.

"You're fine," Rodney replied, eyes fixed on the computer. But he shifted his hand to scritch gently at John's scalp, fingers buried in his hair.

"Hmmm," John said, inching closer yet. He pulled his hand out from under Rodney's thigh and wrapped an arm around his hips, instead, wriggling until his head was half on Rodney's belly.

"Cut it out," Rodney said, and dug his fingers into John's scalp briefly.

John groaned happily, lethargy stealing up and over him. If he could just get a _little warmer_ \- he kept his eyes tightly closed and shoved weakly, insistently at Rodney (who twitched and complained loud enough for John to say _Shhh!_ and grumbled but did eventually set his tablet aside) until John was wrapped around Rodney, head on his belly, arms clutching his thighs, Rodney's hands big and warm and perfect on his head and shoulder, the covers yanked up to his chin.

He began to doze off, and Rodney sighed and shifted until he could reach John's laptop. John heard the movie start again, quickly hushed as Rodney punched the volume key. Just before John drifted into real sleep (sniffing noisily and pressing his face into Rodney's stomach), he heard Rodney snort and mutter something uncomplimentary at the screen. But he didn't stop petting John's hair, so John ignored it and fell asleep.


End file.
